Incentives and budgets linked across departments, so success of one is dependent on success of other

Common documentation for all departments

Wanted to increase total asset base and grow deposits

Merged with another credit union to increase asset growth quickly

Develop Strategic Plan around steps to successfully carry out a merger

Strategic Planning process was significant in successfully merging two organizations together

Asset growth of 33% as a result of merger

Largest credit union merge in history of California

Planed to decrease delinquencies and facilitate loan growth

Strategic focus on profit and growth while managing risk

Process improvement with loans to simplify and clarify the lending process

Loan base has grown by 20% year over year

Loans processed and advanced more quickly

Delinquencies have decreased significantly

Ensure all strategic goals being met or exceeded every single year

Incentive system in which every employee participates

Recognize success and pay rewards weekly and monthly to immediately support positive behavior

All levels of staff – from senior VP’s to tellers – are incentivised towards ensure the key successes are accomplished

Success measured accurately so that employees are rewarded fairly and motivated to do even more

Testimonials

“The clarity, focus, and simplicity of the Centre’s approach is extremely effective. The commitment to the Plan and the clear accountability have made implementation a resounding success.” CEO of Credit Union

When Steve first consulted to this credit union 5 years ago, the senior team was disjointed and working towards different goals. As their CEO pointed out, they had started to loose momentum and were “getting lazy” about strategic planning and about following up on their goals and strategies. She went on to say that “One of the benefits of Steve’s work is that the cost is reasonable, because you actually do a lot of the work yourselves. Not only does this create strong buy in, and a sense of ownership, but it also reduces the number of hours that Steve has to work with the company. Each year we get better at the process, and learn more about how effective it can really be.”

While this organization had done strategic planning before, they had never really owned the process. The previous strategic plan had been crafted by an outside consultant and was so complex and so impacted by the consultant’s own personality that the plan felt foreign and the company did not feel they owned it at all.

This credit union has now become so successful at implementing the strategic plan and tying goals and objectives to each department and to financial incentives that it has not missed a major goal in years. Furthermore, the credit union is constantly able to increase the difficulty and complexity of the goals to keep them challenging. Basically, they have become so good at tracking and measuring success that has become next to impossible to fail.

Overall, the senior team finds that the Centre’s planning process takes time and commitment, but it is well worth the effort. The plan has been great for teambuilding, as a lot of the work is organized around teams, and they document their teamwork as well. The planning process has been pushed down so that whole departments are responsible for success – not just management but line and support staff as well. This has increased acceptance as well as enhanced teamwork, and according to the VP of Marketing, it has “turned all the babble into specific action items.”

Architects of Strategic Change - Built on the Foundation of Systems Thinking